Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Aidoghie Paulinus and Fred Ezeh, Abuja

Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, has charged government to take urgent steps to improve the living standard of Nigerians, insisting that “hunger virus” is killing Nigerians more than the pandemic coronavirus (COVID-19). 

He also dismissed as false claims that Christians were being subjected to attacks in the ccountry.

The sultan, who spoke at the first quarterly meeting of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) in Abuja, yesterday, said though coronavirus was killing hundreds of people across the world, “hunger virus” is  the major killer of Nigerians.

“There is a very serious virus that is killing Nigerians much higher than coronavirus. That virus is hunger. There is hunger virus and it’s very serious. You need to go round the country, into the villages, into the towns and see how people are really struggling to survive.

“These are very serious issues and, as religious and community leaders, we must continue to talk about these issues, and also send our recommendations to the government and watch how the government will implement the recommendations.”

However, President Muhammadu Buhari has described the outbreak of the scourge and the attendant decline in crude oil prices as an opportunity for Nigeria to intensify its economic diversification programme.

He said, given government’s dependence on crude oil revenues for close to 60 per cent of its revenues, the recent decline in crude oil prices would affect the ability to meet the infrastructure and human capital projections in the budget. He called for the injection of massive funds into agriculture to achieve self-sufficiency in food production and supply to citizens.

President Buhari’s call came amid the pledge by the private sector, through a special-purpose vehicle working with the Federal Government and key development finance agencies, to mobilise about N1.2 trillion from banks, pension funds and other financial institutions to fund roads, power, and port infrastructure in the country.

They have also identified six key road projects and three seaport projects for funding, with projections that the special-purpose vehicle implementation would commence in October 2020.

President Buhari, who spoke when he hosted some participants of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s “Going for Growth” roundtable session to dinner at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja, said the external challenges have only served to reinforce the importance of ensuring that Nigeria is self-sufficient in the production of strategic goods.

“This government remains steadfast in seeking to promote the growth of the Nigerian economy and, by extension, the growth of the Nigerian private sector. I am glad to note that, following recent recession and supported by growth-enhancing fiscal and monetary policy measures, GDP growth has remained in positive territory for the past 11 quarters.  The positive growth has been driven by price in key sectors of our economy such as agriculture, industry, oil and gas, as well as ICT.

Related News

“A key focus of this administration has been diversification of the Nigerian economy and improving Nigeria’s level of self-sufficiency in food production. These measures would help support faster economic growth, create employment opportunities for our teeming youths, and reduce our import bill. The onset of the coronavirus in December 2019, which has spread to over 100 countries, is having a significant impact on global growth, as well as commodity prices such as crude oil, which has dropped by over 45 per cent since January 2020. These external challenges have only served to reinforce the importance of ensuring that Nigeria is self-sufficient in the production of strategic goods.

“They have also highlighted the fact that we need to continue to implement measures that would enable growth in other sectors of our economy and reduce our dependence on earnings from crude oil. For these objectives to be achieved, the vital role of the Nigerian private sector cannot be disputed or overemphasised,” said the President.

President Buhari expressed delight that his administration had made some progress in the diversification plans and in creating an enabling environment for the Nigerian private sector to thrive.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government said it had not placed a blanket ban on the entry of nationals of countries where there is a high rate of the pandemic.

Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, stated this when he briefed ambassadors/heads of missions accredited to Nigeria at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja.

Ehanire said, as at March 11, there were two confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria, and the country had recorded no serious illness and death from the pandemic; since the outbreak of the virus in Wuhan, China, the Federal Ministry of Health, had strengthened Nigeria’s response and capacity handle  public health challenges.

“It is important to emphasise that this is a time for facts and not fear or panic. We are in solidarity with all countries across the world to control this pandemic,” Ehanire said.

The minister said the Italian index case of the virus in Nigeria had been under intensive care at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Lagos: “He is doing very well and we are ready to discharge him as soon as the viral load is within acceptable limit.”

“Nigeria has not yet placed any travel restriction or ban on any country, but citizens are strongly advised against non-essential travel to countries with high level of transmission, which we define now as China, Japan, South Korea, Italy and Iran,” Ehanire said.

He urged travellers from the affected countries to be in isolation for 14 days after entering Nigeria, while also saying that travellers from other countries were not required to undertake special measures, but to report immediately to NCDC, if they showed symptoms.

He informed  the diplomatic corps that the second confirmed case was a direct contact of the index case in Ogun State who, prior to the confirmation of COVID-19, had been under quarantine.